Gastrodia lacista

Gastrodia lacista, commonly known as the western potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a thin brown flowering stem with up to fifty small, drooping, fawn and white, tube-shaped flowers. It grows in forest and woodland in the south-west of Western Australia.

Description
Gastrodia lacista is a leafless terrestrial, mycotrophic herb that has a thin, brown crook-like flowering stem bearing between five and fifty drooping, fawn and white, tube-shaped flowers that are warty outside and white inside. The sepals and petals are joined, forming a tube 10-12 mm long. The petals have a few blunt teeth on the edges. The labellum is 9-10 mm long, 4-5 mm wide and white with irregular edges. Flowering occurs from November to January.

Taxonomy and naming
Gastrodia lacista was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones from a specimen collected near Albany in 1989. The description was published in Australian Orchid Research. The specific epithet (lacista) is a Latin word meaning "torn" referring to the edges of the labellum.

Distribution and habitat
The western potato orchid grows in woodland and forest in leaf litter between Bunbury and Albany.